The personality patterns in patients with duodenal ulcer and ulcer-like dyspepsia and their relationship to the course of the diseases. Hvidovre Ulcer Project Group.

OBJECTIVES

To compare personality characteristics in duodenal ulcer patients and patients with ulcer-like dyspepsia from the primary health sector with duodenal ulcer patients from a hospital and to evaluate the relationship of the personality characteristics to the course of the diseases.

DESIGN

A prospective study using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) with retesting of a subgroup of patients after a median observation period of 14 months.

SETTING

Departments of Medical and Surgical Gastroenterology, Hvidovre University Hospital, and the primary health sector in Roskilde County, Denmark.

SUBJECTS: Sixty hospital patients with duodenal ulceration and 17 patients with duodenal ulceration plus 25 patients with ulcer-like dyspepsia from the primary health sector.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: MMPI scores.

RESULTS

The hospital patients differed from the two other groups of patients by having higher scores of depression and anxiety (P < 0.05). Twenty-eight of the patients were retested with MMPI. Contrary to the patients with persisting complaints, abnormal personality characteristics disappeared in patients without complaints (P < 0.05-0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The results indicate that abnormal personality characteristics in patients with functional and organic upper dyspepsia are consequential rather than causal factors.